Melodeon



R. BURDITT & H. P. GREEN.

MELODBON, 620.

No. 16,786. Patented Mar: 10, 1857.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RILEY BURDITT AND HATSEL P. GREEN, OF BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT.

MELODEON.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 16,786, dated March 10, 1857.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, RILEY BURDITT and HATsEL P. GREEN, of Brattleboro,in the count-y of lVindham and State of Vermont, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Melodeons and other Musical Instruments of SimilarCharacter; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

Our improvement consists in having the fulcra of all of the connectinglevers, located upon a single movable fulcrum board.

Figure 1, in the drawing, is a plan view of a part of the keyboard of amelodeon with some of the keys removed to show the arrangement of leversfor playing the upper octaves. Fig. 2, is a transverse vertical sectionof the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

A, A, represent the keys of the instrument.

a, a, are push-down pins arranged in the usual manner below the keys topush down the valves proper to the several keys.

The arrangement of the valves, one of which is shown at Z), Fig. 2, andof the reeds, which are not shown, may be the same as in any of themelodeons in common use, one, two or more sets of reeds, and one, two ormore sets of valves being acted upon by each key through its respectivepush down pin a, in the usual manner.

B, B, are a series of light levers placed below the keys upon fulcrumpins 0, c, which are secured in a board C, which extends the whole orany suitable portion of the length of the instrument. These levers runin a direction oblique to the keys A, A, and the front end of each isbent upward and stands behind the push down pin of one of the keys whilethe back end stands under the rear portion of a key in the octave above.D, D, are a second series of leversplaced under the levers B, B, andarranged parallel with the keys. These levers work on fulcra in theboard C. They have their rear ends connected with the rear ends of thelevers B, B, in any way that will admit of the movements of the two setsof levers on their fulcra, and their front ends are forked to receivethe push down pins 0, a, which are furnished with tight collars e, 6,below the said forked portion of the levers. The above arrangement oflevers communicates motion valves of the octaves above as well as totheir own valves, for as the first-named keys are depressed they pressdown the front ends of the levers B and consequently raise the rear endsthereof and also the rear ends of the levers D,.D, thus depressing theforked front ends of the latter levers upon the collars of theirrespective push down pins.

In order to provide for the playing of one or two octaves at pleasure,all the keys that are intended to play two notes are furnished each witha notch 7, a short distance behind the push down pins and the board C,is made capable of being pushed back and drawn forward a short distanceby a knob or tongue g, which stands out from under the key board. Bydrawing the board C, forward, with the attached levers B, B, and D, D,the ends (Z, (Z, of the levers B, B, are brought nearly close up to thepush down pins, as shown in black outline in Fig. 2, and entirely infront of the notches f, of the keys, so that the levers are in acondition to be operated upon by the keys. But by pushing back the boardC, the ends (Z, (Z, of the levers are caused to stand under the notchesf, of the keys, as shown in red outline in Fig. 2, and the consequenceis that when the keys are played upon they act only on their own pushdown pins and only play in one octave.

lVe do not claim to be the first inventors of musical instruments inwhich two or more notes, in different octaves, are sounded by pressing asingle key; for we are aware that organs, melodeons, pianos, &c., havingsuch features, have long been known. The patent of lVhipple and Bowe,1855, is an example in point. In their instrument each set of connectinglevers has its own fulcrum board; one of said boards is hinged andrendered movable, so that its set of levers may be thrown in or out ofconnection with their corresponding keys, by raising or lowering thefulcrum board. The employment of double fulcrum boards involvesincreased expense in construction and want of compactness. Besides, theend convections between the levers and the keys, require to be flexibleto a certain extent, which is expensive, lacks accuracy, is liable tobecome loose, cannot be adjusted readily, nor conveniently removed orapplied to the instrument. But by our arrangement the levers are all fulcrumed on one and the same fulcrum board, which slides, and thus bringsthe levers into from the keys of the lower octaves to the or out ofconnection with the keys. Our mans melodeon, patented 1853. Neither doplan is simpler, more compact, cheaper, and more easily applied, thanthe invention above described. The ends of our levers are united bymeans of ridged adjusting screws, by which the levers may be adjustedwith the utmost accuracy and convenience. But we do not claim suchadjusting screws, as they are seen in J. F. Thorntons device, 1857. Ourfulcrum board and levers may also be removed and replaced readily,without the necessity of putting the end of each individual lever one byone into its loop, by

hand, as in Whipple and Bowes device. We do not claim the combination oflevers with push down pins that have shoulders or collars upon them.This is seen in H. N. Goodwe claim any part or feature of the withindescribed invention, which is seen in any other analogous instrument.But to the best of our knowledge and belief it is new to haveall thelevers fulcruined upon a single movable board, as herein set forth; and

Therefore what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is,

Having the fulcra of the connecting levers B, D, located upon a singlemovable board 0, substantially as described.

RILEY BURDITT. HATSEL P. GREEN \Vitnesses:

BENJ. HUNT, E. KIRKLAND.

